Somebody Calls You
by Dragon Elexus
Summary: Pearl stands guard by her liege's gem, anxious that Pink Diamond is taking so long to regenerate.


**Author's Note:** This piece is paired with 'Picture Yourself', which can be found on my profile; the two can be read in any order. Both of the stories were co-written by LadyRavenEye.

oOoOoOoOo

 **Somebody Calls You**

In the Gem encampment at the top of the snow-peaked mountain, there was tension in the air. Everyone was busy as always- their duties must be done- but they were distracted. Warriors flagged in their steps as they practiced their forms. Architects and builders kept breaking off mid-sentence to glance towards the open amphitheatre at the mountain's peak. The committee for Kindergarten construction hesitated, their confidence faltering, wondering if Pink Diamond would approve of their decisions. There was currently no way to ask her.

Over the last weeks every Gem on planet, no matter their caste or role, had made some excuse to visit the amphitheatre. Their superiors did not chastise them. Everyone wanted to reassure themselves that their commander was still there.

Pearl never left the amphitheatre at all. She stood, unmoving, by where the Pink Diamond gem had been carefully placed, spear gripped sturdy and defiant at her side, eyes focused for any signs of that telltale glow. She had nothing else to do, no other tasks to attend to. Even if she had, Pearl would have still chosen to be here, instead. Once, just the thought of abandoning such duties would have filled her with shame. Now, she knew that she had no duty more important than the protection of Pink Diamond, to whom she had sworn herself.

It had been three Earth weeks since her liege had retreated into her gemstone, which was generally a rare occurrence for a Diamond. Besides having the strongest physical forms of any of the Gem castes, they were usually surrounded by a retinue of vassals programmed to do whatever they must to keep their leaders safe. While waiting for Pink Diamond to reform, Pearl had vowed to herself over and over that this would never happen again while there was life remaining in her Gem.

The reason Pink Diamond had retreated into her gemstone was so _reckless_ and so very _Pink Diamond_ -she had pushed a ruby out of the way of a falling rock in that terrible kindergarten. Her physical form was damaged so badly she had to relinquish it, like she was just as expendable as any other Gem, like she was _common_. This strange Crystal System was making Pink Diamond stray even further from her Homeworld sisters' ideologies, as if banishment to this planet (Pearl carefully avoided thinking the word "miserable," as Pink Diamond did not like it), wasn't proof enough.

Several millennia ago, the last time Pink Diamond had been made to retreat into her gemstone, she had reformed with the Hair. Oh, how the other Diamonds had hated it! But Pink Diamond was as clever as she was kind and beautiful, and she had convinced them it was simply an alternate way to display her majesty. Using what mass that was allocated to her physical form on something so frivolous as _hair_ was a constant reminder of how powerful she really was, not a simple preference for pretty, bouncy things! Not surprisingly, long hair was in vogue for several centuries afterward, until the other Diamonds managed to quash the trend.

Pearl held herself protectively over the inert, silent gemstone of her commander, as if her fragile form could somehow protect it from harm, and tried to bring herself back to happier times.

 _Pearl is laughing so hard, tears are coming out of her eyes. She is shaking as much with merriment as for the impropriety of the situation._

 _"And another thing," Pink Diamond has not shapeshifted into Yellow Diamond, but her accent and affect is a perfect mocking pantomime. "I'm_ horribly _jealous that I can't just change my hair, because I'm secretly_ dreadful _at shapeshifting."_

 _Pink Diamond is tossing her hair a little bit harder than she normally does, and she is laughing a little bit louder-like all the other wonderful times she was being especially wicked._

 _"They never used to be like this," Pink Diamond says, flashing from gleeful to gloomy as she is wont to do. Her eyes look galaxies away._

_"I wish I had known them then," says Pearl._

 _"You could, you know," Pink Diamond says casually, as if she was discussing the weather in the Carat System. "If only you would fuse with me."_

_She has suggested it a hundred different times. Pearl always says the same thing._

 _"We can't!"_

_It is-beyond inconceivable. Fusion for pleasure-just because they were laughing or singing together or-yes, sometimes dancing, but Pearl never forgot herself-she never let herself go-let alone-a pearl and a_ Diamond _-!_

 _"My Pearl," Pink Diamond's voice brings Pearl gently back from the brink, like it so often had. "Do you trust me?"_

 _"Of course." How can she think any differently?_

 _"Please, dance with me." Pink Diamond reaches out a hand. Then, she freezes, as if she has finally realized what she is suggesting. Her eyes soften, and when she speaks, it is not to comment on the indecency of the situation. "But- only If you want to."_

 _If Pearl_ wants _to._

 _Like she has a choice._

 _But that is the point, with Pink Diamond, isn't it?_

 _She has always given Pearl a choice, from the moment she gave Pearl a name._

 _And so, trying not to tremble, the defective pearl takes the hand of Pink Diamond._

Being Rainbow Quartz was better than music, better than dancing, better than anything in the world except the way Pink Diamond looked at her right before the moment they fused. Pearl had never understood why Pink Diamond took such delight in going from dazzling Diamond to dull as dirt Quartz, but after that first time, it wasn't as if she was ever going to turn down the chance to fuse with her leader ever again.

Pearl forced herself to push the intensity of those feelings down, cursing those times with Pink Diamond in which she had actually been reluctant to fuse. She scared herself, sometimes, thinking about what it would have been like, if she'd never allowed herself to do it. It could often be- _terrifying_ , the things Pink Diamond asked of her. But Pearl would do it for her, nonetheless. She would overcome her programming, her 'Homeworld Brainwashing' as Pink Diamond called it, though Pearl still hesitated to think of it like that. And as terrifying as it was, going outside those bounds and rules- it was almost always rewarding. Not just fusion and Rainbow Quartz. The ability to speak her mind when she saw something amiss, to read and study whatever texts she wished, to summon a weapon and fight- she would not have been _half_ as useful to her liege without any of that.

But of all the transgressions that Pearl had made at Pink Diamond's urging- Rainbow Quartz was unequivocally her favourite.

Pearl thought she should feel guilty for that. Rainbow Quartz was the reason Pink Diamond had been sent to this queer little planet in the first place. They had been caught ( _dancing_ , the memory still made Pearl blanch and squirm and grin despite herself) by no less than Yellow Diamond herself, and it was the first time Pink Diamond and Pearl ever popped out of the fusion without consulting each other. For the sacrilege of having defiled a Sister Diamond by fusing for pleasure, Yellow Diamond would have had the defective pearl crushed. For some inexplicable reason, Pink Diamond decided that rather than see Pearl destroyed, she would accept a post far from beloved Homeworld as a punishment for them both.

No matter how much Pearl had screamed and cried that she wasn't worth it, Pink Diamond had simply smiled and told her that one small pearl was as important as any great diamond, and maybe on this Earth, that could actually be true.

The thought was laughable-Pearl would never be strong enough. She didn't know why Pink Diamond bothered with her—she only knew she would never, _could_ never leave her.

Pearl could not stop herself any longer, and she let out a sobbing wail and dropped in a huddle over the Pink Diamond gemstone. The other Gems nearby noticed of course, and Pearl would have wilted under their judgmental glances had she not been blinded and deafened by her grief. This was the longest she'd ever been without Pink Diamond since they had come to this planet!

 _She's never coming back, she's never coming back, she's never coming back-_

Beneath her, the gemstone began to glow.

"Everyone!" squawked Pearl, straightening and scuffing at the tears still streaming down her face. Various Gems dropped their tasks and hurried over. They stood straighter, eyes wide, prepared to bow and salute. It was not every century you saw a Diamond reform. "She's coming back!"

White light flashed through Pink Diamond's few forms around her gemstone, and then settled. There was a collective gasp.

Pink Diamond floated gently to the ground. Her hair was basically the same—but oh! She was wearing a _dress_. She _hadn't formed any shoes_. She was shorter, and rounder, and softer, and somehow even lovelier than she had been before. The unmistakable points of the other Diamonds were completely absent in this newer form, except in the cut out revealing her gemstone. Pearl did not recognize the shape, which was large and five-pointed, but it was most certainly not a diamond.

"Pink Diamond!" exclaimed Pearl, and she dropped to one knee before the mighty Gem, steadying herself with her spear.

"No," her liege said. And then, she touched Pearl gently on the shoulder. In front of everyone.

"I am not a Diamond any more. Earth is a place of choice!" Her voice got louder, pulling other Gems toward them. "I choose to be Rose. After the flowers of this planet."

Pearl looked upward. Her own tears were reflected in Rose's eyes.

"Rose _Quartz_."


End file.
